History Series / TataAMarcinPowiedzial

** Initially the Father is a choleric with a lot of insecurities about the way he is perceived by society around him and with really strained family relations. He gets better.

* ItsNotPornItsArt: One of the episodes deal with this, with the Father trying to talk in the most round words (the Boy was implied to be below 10 by then) about the difference between an art, an act and blatant pornography, as a counter-point to Martin's father claiming everything with nude people is by default immoral and depraved.

* KidHasAPoint: Many situations are diffused when the Father realises his son is right about some social or psychological issue.

* ParentsAsPeople: The Father is shown as a full-fledged character, with entire reasoning for his actions, own agendas, preferences, ideology and what not, always trying to do the best thing for his family and especially his growing up son. In the same time he has numerous pitfalls, personal issues, stressful situations to deal with and is far from being Mr. Perfect. The entire ParentalBonus was build on him being such complex and nuanced character dealing with everyday situations and tough questions.

* TaughtByTelevision: Invoked, discussed and ultimately dismissed, at least in terms of gaining practical skills from fiction. The Boy brings a particular example: crime movies that train people in low-level acts of petty crime, along with murder and heists. The Father is quick to point out that on average, they conclude with "crime doesn't pay" aesop and, more importantly, there is also the concept of ArtisticLicense and simplifications for the sake of the plot. The discussion then switches to romantic comedies (and the Boy hints on more universal "love-making scenes"), only to also be shot down as mostly hollow and overly reliant on grandiose gestures, rather than the prose of life, while creating mutual, unrealistic expectations for people in relationship. Cue the Boy bringing up that huge rose bouquet mom received when the Father wanted to get into her good graces.

* TaughtByTelevision: Invoked, discussed and ultimately dismissed, at least in terms of gaining practical skills from fiction. The Boy brings a particular example: crime movies that train people in low-level acts of petty crime, along with murder and heists. The Father is quick to point out that on average, they conclude with "crime doesn't pay" aesop and, more importantly, there is also the concept of ArtisticLicense and simplifications for the sake of the plot. The discussion then switches to romantic comedies (and the Boy hints on more universal "love-making scenes"), only to also be shot down as mostly hallow and overly reliant on grandiose gestures, rather than the prose of life, while creating mutual, unrealistic expectations for people in relationship. Cue the Boy bringing up that huge rose bouquet mom received when the Father wanted to get into her good graces.

** As the boy grows up over the years, it becomes more and more apparent he embraced most of the lessons his father gave him. He also obviously starts to lose his childish naivety.
** Initially the father is a choleric with a lot of insecurities about the way he is perceived by society around him and with really strained family relations. He gets better.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: For the first two years or so, the show revolved around the boy asking difficult questions and his father struggling to both provide the right answer and shelter his son from the adult world.
* ConstantlyCurious: The main premise of the series is the boy drilling his father with questions about the issue that bugs him at given moment.
* FriendlyRivalry: The father and Martin's father, despite never meeting on screen, are clearly in such "conflict", never stopping to show themselves as the "better father". The series remains neutral and never takes sides, from the very start showing each of them has their distinctive wrongs and rights.

* HairTriggerTemper: The father gets agitated pretty easily.
* HiddenDepths: While the father tries to project an image of strict, strong, manly figure and a breadwinner, he also is well-read, has philosophical insight on many subjects and is in fact very open-minded whenever he allows himself to say what he really thinks, instead of trying to fit into the society around him.
* {{Hypocrite}}[=/=]NobleBigot: One of the defining characteristics of the father is the contrast between the lessons he gives his son and how he behaves himself. The boy regularly calls him out on this.
* JustAKid: Standard defense of the father when the son starts to point out his own hypocrisy.
* KidHasAPoint: Many situations are diffused when the father realises his son is right about some social or psychological issue.

* MyDadCanBeatUpYourDad: Part of the humour comes from the boy and Martin constantly comparing their respective fathers to each other.

* MinimalistCast: Piotr Fronczewski as the father and Mikołaj Radwan as his son. In the final year of the run the boy's girlfriend started showing up on irregular basis.
* NoNameGiven: We never learn the names of the protagonists. Martin's father also remains unnamed. Gets almost absurd once Agata (a girlfriend of the boy) is introduced, but the original duo remain nameless.
* OrphanageOfFear: Invoked, but to realistic proportions. The father simply notes that being raised in an orphanage has by default a fatal influence on development of children and all sort of alternatives should be seeked.

* ParentsAsPeople: The father is shown as a full-fledged character, with entire reasoning for his actions, own agendas, preferences, ideology and what not, always trying to do the best thing for his family and especially his growing up son. In the same time he has numerous pitfalls, personal issues, stressful situations to deal with and is far from being Mr. Perfect. The entire ParentalBonus was build on him being such complex and nuanced character dealing with everyday situations and tough questions.

** The father often points out just how ridiculous it is to follow fads and trends, when it's much better to BeYourself and cultivate own hobbies and interests.
** It's transparent throughout the series the father ''himself'' is living under heavy peer pressure. While the outlook on life he gives to his son is progressive, tolerant and based on compassion and being reasonable, he himself must maintain a constant mask of being [[TestosteronePoisoning somewhat boorish, overly conservative master of the house]] for the outside world or he would be ridiculed by the adults around him. It's not treated as a good thing and the son often calls him out on this DoubleStandard.

* StrictlyFormula: Which is ''part of the charm''. Each episode looks more or less like this: the boy brings up some issue, the father explains it, the boy suddenly asks about something closely related, catching the father off-guard and the father tries desperately to both remain true to his own preaching and try to explain why he did something wrong.
* ThickerThanWater: The father regularly invokes it, only to be just as often cornered by the boy about all sorts of {{Double Standard}}s this creates.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: At times, the boy shows a surprising amount of wisdom for his age, which is nicely balanced with his WideEyedIdealist stance of a kid.

* ParentalBonus: Scripts were written to appeal both to children (the show was aired before the evening cartoon the Polish TV traditionally broadcasts at 7 o'clock) and their parents, serving as education for ''both''.

* FriendlyRivalry: The father and Martin's father, despite never meeting on screen, are clearly in such "conflict", never stopping to show themselves as the "better father". The series remains neutral, from the very start showing each of them has their distinctive own wrongs and rights.

* ParentsAsPeople: The father is shown as a full-fledged character, with entire reasoning for his actions, own agendas, preferences, ideology and what not, always trying to do the best thing for his family and especially his growing up son. In the same time he has numerous pitfalls, personal issues, stressful situations and is far from being Mr. Perfect. The entire ParentalBonus was build on him being such complex and nuanced character dealing with everyday situations.

* NoNameGiven: We never learn the names of the protagonists. Martin's father also remains unnamed.

* MinimalistCast: Piotr Fronczewski as the father and Mikołaj Radwan as his son. In the final year of the run the boy's girlfriends started showing up on irregular basis.

* MetaCasting: Inverted. As Mikołaj Radwan was growing up, so was his character. Which in turn influenced the subject of the dialogues, making them gradually more and more mature. Likewise, Fronczewski is well-established as a family guy as a result of being cast in this very series.

'''Tata, a Marcin powiedział...''' (''Dad, Martin said...'') is a Polish TV series from the 90s. Each episode has a fromat of a dialogue between the father (Piotr Fronczewski) and his growing up son (Mikołaj Radwan), starting with the phrase "Dad, Martin said that his dad said..." and different issue being discussed.

The series proven to be an immense hit, unsuprisingly mostly among parents watching with their kids rather than children it was adressed to. It combined easily relatable situation of a father trying to explain in the best possible way complicated matters of the adult world to his son and discussing many issues about society, family and life itself. A lot of comedy comes from both the naivety of the young boy and his innocence, the impulsive character of the father and how often he ends up caught off-guard by the boy's wisdom.

** As the boy grows up over the years, it becomes more and more apparent he embraced most of the lessons his father gave him. He also obviously starts to loose his child naivety.
** Initially the father is a choleric with a lot of insecurities about the way he is percieved by society around him and with really strained family relations. He gets better.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: For the first two years or so, the show revolved around the boy asking hard to answer or explain questions, with the father struggling to both provide the right answer and shelter his son from the adult affairs. This struggle is the main source of the humour throughout the entire series.

* TheGhost: Numerous characters are mentioned on regular basis in dialogues, but they never show up on screen. This includes even members of the family and the titular Martin himself.
* HairTriggerTemper: The father is choleric, so he gets agitated pretty easily.
* HiddenDepths: While the father tries to project an image of strict, strong manly figure and a breadwinner, he also is well-versed, has philosophical insight on many subjects and is in fact very open-minded when only allowed to truly express his mind, instead of trying to fit into society around him.
* {{Hypocrite}}[=/=]NobleBigot: One of the most defining characteristics of the father is the contrast between the lessons he gives to his son and how he behaves himself. The boy regularly calls him out on this.

* KidHasAPoint: Many situations are difused when the father realises his son is right about some social or psychological issue.
* LongRunner: The series managed to survive for seven years with steady viewers share, regardless of its {{Minimalism}} and formulatic nature. It ended [[RealLifeWritesThePlot for natural reasons]] - Mikołaj Radwan was 16 and there was little point to continue the format.
* MetaCasting: Inverted. As Mikołaj Radwan was growing up, so was his character. Which in turn influenced the subject of the dialogues, making them gradually more and more mature. Likewise, Fronczewski is well-established as a family guy.
* {{Minimalism}}: Two actors, usually with single backdrop behind them and roughtly 8 minutes to adress the subject in question.

* NoNameGiven: We never learn the names of the father or the boy. Martin's father also remains unnamed.
* ParentalBonus: Each episode was written in such way to appeal to both children (the show was aired before evening cartoon) and their parents, serving as education for ''both''.
* PeerPressureMakesYouEvil: Often returning theme, without ever getting preachy
** The father often points out how ridiculous it is to follow fads and trends, when it's much better to BeYourself and cultivate own hobbies and interests
** It's transparent throughout the series the father himself is living under heavy peer pressure. While the outlook on life he gives to his son is progressive, tolerant and based on compassion and being reasonable, he himself must maintain a constant mask of being [[TestosteronePoisoning somewhat boorish, overly conservative master of the house]] for the outside world or he would be ridiculed by the adults around him. It's not treated as a good thing and the son often calls him out on this double standard.

* StrictlyFormula: But the formula is ''part of the charm''. Each episodes revolves around the similar sequence: the boy brings up some issue, the father explains it, the boy suddenly asks about something closely related, catching the father off-guard and the father tries desperately to both remain true to his own preaching and try to explain why he did something wrong.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: At times, the boy shows suprising amount of wisdom for his age, which is nicely balanced with his WideEyedIdealist stance of a kid.